Suffering hurts in two ways. First, there is the actual pain of suffering. Illness hurts; poverty hurts; broken relationships hurt. But the actual pain is perhaps not the worst part. I remember hearing an interview with a woman who was being tortured by the secret police in her country. She was tied to a table and the men where torturing her. She said she could take it as long as thought of them as monsters. But during the torture, one man took a phone call and spoke with his wife. He talked about finishing up at work and coming home. That real human beings were torturing her tore her soul.

The worst part of suffering is the shame, the pointlessness, the loneliness. When we come to die, there is regret. It doesn’t how much we acquire or how much we have done. Solomon coming to the end of his life, having done all that any man could do:

“And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure … “Ecclesiastes 2:10. And yet, that could not keep him from regret, “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and striving after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).

If drinking in all the money and power and sex and pleasure and wine which the world can give will leave one with regret, what of a normal life? When we suffer, we can think, What’s the point? What’s the point of my disease? When we can’t pay our bills, or a marriage fails; or our life just seems a waste, a getting up and paying bills for what?

We think, What’s the point of my suffering. Then, some well-meaning Christian tells us, “It’s to strengthen your faith!” Or, much worse, “God’s teaching you something.” It sounds as if the point of suffering is some sort quiz; as if there were some test and we need to get a 90% or higher to pass. Those answers are correct – but only in part. It’s like saying that Hamlet is important because it’s about ghosts, or the World Series is about hot dog sales.

Suffering does grow our faith – but faith is only the means to the end. In suffering we feel pain – and we are tempted to feel that our pain is pointless. We feel shame in our suffering and think that it serves no good. When we hear “It will strengthen our faith” – we think, I would settle for just not hurting today.

But what if suffering were an inlet for glory and joy – and not just joy in the future, but joy today? Look at 1 Peter 2:21. Peter writes:

For to this you have been called

Because Christ suffered for you

Leaving an example that you might follow in his steps.

1 Peter 2:21. Consider carefully those words and follow the logic: You have been called – that means that God has called you to patiently enduring suffering, even unjust, undeserved suffering. Peter then gives the reason: Because Christ suffered for you. Then, that you may not miss the point, Peter restates our duty and status in other words, that we might follow in Christ’s steps of suffering.

This does not sound hopeful. But, as you consider the matter, it becomes worse. We are not merely called to suffer, but we are called suffer as Christ suffered.

How does the logic work? You must suffer unjustly. If your boss abuses you, if your husband does not love you, if your wife will not respect you, you must so suffer. If someone pays you evil, you give them good. When someone curses you, you must bless them. Why? Because Christ has suffered for you.

Even more, such suffering will be measured by Christ’s suffering: His suffering is the pattern which you must follow; his suffering is like so many steps in the snow and you must follow behind, for it is the only way to cross.

Peter writes of Jesus being reviled and threatened. Those words do not merely mean a couple of crass shouts by an enemy:

16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. Mark 15:16–20 (ESV)

There he stood alone, beaten, shamed, blood running down his face as they struck him and danced about in their madness, mocking the Lord of glory who had come to rescue the children of Adam from sin and death.

Peter saw some, but not all of these things. You know the story of how Peter, frightened by a girl, denied the Lord. Luke records how that scene ended:

61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly. Luke 22:61–62 (ESV)

Peter’s own cowardice makes the command to suffer with Christ laughable – who is Peter to command me to follow the Lord, when Peter himself ran away and wept? How can this coward think to command our courage when he could not even stand still? How can Peter tell us to follow in the steps of Christ:

And they led him out to be crucified.

Peter’s words that we should follow in the steps of Christ, that we should follow Christ in suffering do not make sense. First, it does not make sense that we should suffer patiently through a bad marriage just because Jesus bore sin. Second, it makes no sense that Peter, of all people, should be the one who could draw such a conclusion. Peter looked at Jesus suffer. He saw that Jesus was going to the cross and Peter responded by lying to a little girl. If seeing Jesus suffer did not give Peter courage, how does Peter think reading about Jesus suffering will help me?

Let us consider the matter more carefully. What was the event? The Lord of glory, God incarnate, was murdered, “crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” Acts 2:23. Peter contends that murder must affect our life here and now.

For to this you were called

Because Christ suffered for you

Leaving you an example that you might follow in his steps.

To suffer because we have done wrong is no great trouble. Only the most morally twisted could conclude that wrong does not deserve a response: “For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it you endure?” 1 Peter 2:20a.

But God does something strange. He commands a thing seemingly makes no sense:

“But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this a gracious thing in the sight of God” 1 Peter 2:20b.

Somehow a line runs between Christ’s suffering for our sins and our suffering even when we have not sinned.

Let’s consider the death of Jesus. If you were to stand on the street in Jerusalem on that Friday morning, you would have seen just another criminal, beaten, filthy, bloody, brutalized; a rough wooden beam upon his shoulders. You would have seen the tatters of meat which had been his back. You have seen him stumble and fall before the soldiers. Perhaps if you had known more, you have seen just another failed messiah; another dreamer and liar who had run into the teeth of Rome. You would have seen betrayal and shame and sorrow.

Even the dearest disciples and friends of Jesus had lost hope as he pushed along the streets to be murdered outside the gate. The women who found the empty tomb, had come to honor a corpse. Cleopas and the unnamed disciple were hopeless and saddened when they spoke to the Lord, not realizing he had risen from the dead:

Our chief priests and rulers had delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Luke 24:20-21a.

No one knew the “hidden wisdom of God” in all this. “For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” 1 Corinthians 2:7-8.

Now there was no secret in the death of Jesus – Rome killed in as a public a manner as they could find. What then was not seen:

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24 (ESV)

Thus, something must have happened in this death for our sin which transform everything we think we know about the world.

That is the great connection between Christ’s death and our suffering in this world. When Christ died for sins, the world changed.

We are born in a slaughterhouse. In a slaughterhouse, the cattle stand in long lines, head to tail, waiting their turn to walk through the door and die. The only hope for the cow is the hope of a feedlot and then the line outside the door of the slaughterhouse. This world is little more than a feedlot, than a prison. You are locked in by death. Death stands at the doors of this world and no one escapes.

Sin spreads through the camp and has infected us all, like a plague which eats the mind and poisons the soul:

3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. Ecclesiastes 9:3 (ESV)

Look carefully into this world. The Law has come to town. In every street, the law sends out his soldiers to drag us each and every-one before his court. The young comes with the old; the baby is dragged from the mother; the rich stands with the poor. The tribunal stands in the middle of street; nothing is private. The bailiff reads out your crimes; nothing is hidden. Your boldest wrong and the darkest intention of your heart, so dim you scarcely knew it if was true all are read aloud. The Law knows all.

You fall condemned. No mercy; no defense; no hope. And thus you find yourself in this prison, this slaughterhouse, this feedlot for death. You are food for worms, and nothing more.

Sin and death reign supreme in this prison. All the insanity which spreads around flows from the utter terror of death at the door. As the Holy Spirit explains in Hebrews 2:14, the devil holds the world in life long slavery through fear of death.

Some people deny that death stands at the door. Others think they can bribe the guard when it comes the day to account. Others claim to have brought paradise to the prison and seek a torrent of pleasure to dull their eyes until they die.

No one within this prison deserves the least reprieve. The Law’s judgment was just and true. Nothing less than death awaits. And after death, vast fields of hopelessness and sorrow, despair and death without end. The bars of death cannot be beat. Like a blackhole whose gravity can swallow even light and time, death will not be beat. Justice will not lose one dram of vindication.

Yet, into this world the Son of God came. He takes up the charge laid against you. The Law reads out crimes, one by one, each more vicious and foul to have stained the air with their sound. The charge in full being stated, the Son of God, the King himself says to the Law, I will bear it all. Let death and hell come, I will bear it all.

And so the king, reviled, mocked, beaten, murdered upon a tree, bore the weight of sin and shame. Even more dreadful, the King received the wrath of God which caused the earth to shake and the sun to hide for shame:

33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:33–34 (ESV)

Somehow, upon that cross,

For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Somehow

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— Galatians 3:13 (ESV)

A mystery lies here, that Christ could bear our sin in his body on the tree. And yet, it is true:

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Galatians 4:4–7 (ESV)

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,

Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

That is why Peter writes that God has brought us to hope:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:3–7 (ESV)

Look into this hope – as deep as the sorrow of sin once laid upon us, so much greater is the joy and glory of hope now brought by resurrection of Jesus Christ. See further that all this hope is of God, and God alone.

It was God who sent the Law to condemn us each and everyone:

20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20 (ESV)

It was God himself who wrote the “record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands” (Colossians 2:14). It was God who kept close track of our sin, of our deeds and intentions. And it was God who sent the Son into the world. Do you not know

that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you …. 1 Peter 1:18–20 (ESV)

And in that ransom, death itself was aside forever. In his death and resurrection, “you were born again, not of perishable seed but imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). The one who lives without Christ cannot be said rightly to live at all. Before him lies only death; his life a life of a feedlot for worms. And after death? Death for eternity, endless fields of sorrow and despair.

But it is not so for you who know him. You have been called to joy which words cannot contain, because you have come to hope in the revelation of Jesus Christ:

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8–9 (ESV)

But this still may not answer the question we asked at the beginning: How does Christ dying me lead to me suffering in this world? Wouldn’t it be the case that I should come into immediate and full possession of all this joy?

That is where we stumble. You see, we falsely think that there is a joy to be had which is other than the joy of the visible presence of the King. When we joke about mansions in heaven, we laugh at the idolatry of our hearts that even when we think of the King we somehow think of a joy which should centered upon us.

But all so hope is false. We were created for something far greater than ourselves – we were created for God. Nothing less than our king will do for such a heart. No mere trifle, even the most glorious throne to ever arise over the face of the world will be enough. The greatest room in a prison is still a cell.

To dream that we should be happy with something here and now is dastardly – it is lie. The only happiness and contentment we have now is a draught of the Creator being bestowed through the creature. Imagine being thirsty and coming to a faucet. You turn the handle and water comes out. It is not the faucet which drowns your thirst but the water. When you have contentment which flows through the creature it is only gift of the Creator seen in the creature. We must not love anything or anyone for themselves, but rather for the sake of Christ. Even our dearest relations must be loved for Christ’s sake.

Only our foolishness ever permits us to seek contentment in the creature.

When Christ died for us, our entire world changed. Rather than being desperate to find some happiness in this world – which is like trying to find water in the Sarah – we were granted true hope. I can remember the day that one of my daughters first ate chocolate. After that taste, nothing else would be the same. How much more is such a thing true when we come to Christ!

We now know a thirst that can only be slaked by living water.

Our hope is God. Our good is God. Our joy is God. Our inheritance is God.

Thus, our greatest joy and hope is that our King be glorified.

You see, when Christ died and carried away our sin we were brought to a greater a hope and joy: the all sufficient most glorious God. We have come to see that our God possesses such power and beauty that it would be a crime for God to not glory in himself. When the Father looks upon the work of his Son, destroying the reign of sin and death, the Father delights in the Son. And it is the joy of the Father to glorify his Son. It is the joy of the Son to bring glory to his Father. It is the joy of the Spirit to convict us sin that we may come to see the glory of the Father in the Son.

When we were rescued from sin, we were rescued into this kingdom of joy. “Not to us, O LORD, not us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and faithfulness!” Psalm 115:1.

That is where our suffering comes in.

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9 (ESV)

You were saved so that you too could join in the eternal delight of God by proclaiming the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You and I are not the point of the universe. You can understand nothing of true importance in this life, if you do not understand this. You will never understand, faith, obedience, suffering; you will never know blessedness, nor know joy, worship or hope until you grasp this point: “God loves His glory more than He loves us and that this is the foundation of His love for us” (Piper, Brothers, We are not Professionals, 7).

The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. And that is the chief end of God. You exist to share in the eternal delight of glorifying God. Look down at 1 Peter 2:12:

12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:12 (ESV)

You proclaim the excellencies of God by keeping your conduct honorable among the Gentiles. And how do you do that? By patiently enduring suffering – even unjust suffering. To endure unjust suffering because you have hope of God’s rescue testifies of God’s goodness and glory. Now, perhaps, the others may think you a fool and may think your suffering shame – but the day will come when you will be revealed to be a child of God and a joint heir with Christ. The time will come that Christ will come and then they will see your good deeds where done in the hope of God. Therefore, you may rejoice today knowing that you are bringing glory to God. Indeed, bringing glory to God is the only true means of joy in all of creation. Where you to search all heaven, all earth; where you to travel to edge of the universe, you could find no other true joy, no greater joy than the joy of glorifying God.

When the Lord had been arrested, Peter did not understand what was happening. It was only later that he finally realized the glory of God. Too often, we live like Peter before the resurrection. We deny Jesus, because the shame and pain of this world become too great. We know it to be wrong, and so we run out and weep. Peter is writing to you and me to spare us the sorrow of hearing the cock crow.

Thus, now that Christ has risen and death has been defeated, we can look upon our sorrows and pangs, sad marriages or painful work, as moments to glorify God – and what could be a greater joy? Christ’s death did not merely transform death for us, it also transformed life:

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:56–58 (ESV)

Solomon tells us what will not give happiness:—Jesus, the “greater than Solomon,” tells us what will. Solomon could show nothing on earth that would give rest.—Jesus says, “I will give you rest.” Both ask “What profit?” Solomon asks, “What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?” Jesus asks, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” His gifts contrast gloriously with those named in this book. Instead of sinful mirth and wine, he gives the joys of communion with himself,—joys that the world knows not of. And he has in reserve unbounded delight. “In thy presence is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

Instead of houses, vineyards, gardens, and orchards of rare and delicious fruits, Jesus has in reserve, mansions of glory, a paradise of joy, and the “twelve manner of fruits” upon the trees of life. Instead of pools—“broken cisterns that hold no water,” he has in reserve, “the river of the water of life” flowing “from the throne of God and the Lamb.” Instead of men-servants and maidservants, he even now sends his angels as ministering spirits, to wait upon the heirs of salvation. Gabriel is not too great and too noble to watch over their path and their pillow. Instead of the silver and gold that are corruptible, he counsels us to buy of him gold tried in the fire that we may be rich. Instead of men-singers, women-singers, and musical instruments, he will cause us to join the choir of “harpers harping with their harps.” Instead of worldly wisdom, greatness, and distinction, he gives us the true wisdom. He makes us kings and priests, and we shall reign for ever. Instead of worship formal and heartless, he causes his people to worship in spirit and in truth, and will exalt them to the glorious worship of those who sing and praise with the angels. Instead of a long life of earthly care, he gives those who love him immortal youth, which, when ages or cycles are ended, shall only just be reaching forth to the immortality before it.

A Commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes, 147-148
Rev. Loyal Young
1865

The sixth chapter of Ecclesiastes also ties together the strands concerning wealth and blessing which had been raised in various forms throughout the preceding chapters. It also brings the previous points together with heightened vividness.[1] There is even a slightly different rhetorical effect in that the passage does not ask questions but rather lays out some definite conclusions.[2]Yet when reading the passages on wealth together, it is instructive to read them in tandem with the story of Solomon’s life. Even those who reject Solomonic authorship still admit that book uses Solomon’s life as a background for at least the first two chapters.

I contend that the parallel between Solomon’s history and the commentary of Ecclesiastes persists even beyond Ecclesiastes 2:11 (where many commentators believe the parallel falls off).

The Correspondence Between the History of Solomon and Ecclesiastes

First, we begin with a brief recount of Solomon’s wealth:

11 God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked long life, but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king 12 wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.”

2 Chronicles 1:11-12. This astounding wealth is described in Ecclesiastes 2:3-10: money, land, buildings, pleasures, human beings (it is a recapitulation of Eden, but it also makes a perverse parallel of the parody of Eden in Revelation 18):

3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine-my heart still guiding me with wisdom-and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.

5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.

6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.

7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.

8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the children of man.

9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.

However, looking back on it, Qoheleth (at the very least speaking as Solomon) can offer only a triple condemnation and despair over his life:

Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:11. The extraordinary wealth and bounty ending in a bitter taste well parallels the life of Solomon. First Solomon did acquire an astounding hoard of humanity and wealth:

1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women 2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love 3 He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart 4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

1 Kings 11:1-4. Yet, for all his wealth and women, he lost the blessing of God:

9 And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded.

1 Kings 11:1-4, 9-10. Thus the blessing became a curse in Solomon’s mouth. He had the stuff, he it seems he lost the ability to enjoy it. When reading the story of Solomon, it seems the trouble with the wealth only came at the very end, when God finally pronounced judgment upon Solomon.

Using Ecclesiastes to Understand Solomon

However, when we read Ecclesiastes as partial commentary on the history of Solomon (especially if one takes Solomon as the author, Qoheleth), one can conclude that the property did not bring contentment to Solomon.

This point becomes even tighter when we come to Ecclesiastes 5 & 6. The thoroughly negative valuation of Ecclesiastes 2:11 seems like the despair and disgust did not come until after he come to the end of his life. But Ecclesiastes 5 & 6 adds something more: it states that the “blessing” was really no blessing unless God provides an additional element: the blessing to enjoy the abundance.

Ecclesiastes 5 states the proverb that one cannot be satisfied with money:

10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Ecclesiastes 5:10–11 (ESV)

When one considers both the absurdly large household of Solomon, you think Of course! The wealth of gold and goods, of slaves and wives (human property)could not possibly be enjoyed in any sort of intensive manner. Solomon could see the harem of a 1,000 women, together with their servants and attendants, and think I must feed them all. In fact, Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 is precisely the sort of conclusion one would expect from a man in Solomon’s position.

Verse 12 casts an almost envious eye on the men who built the palaces and public buildings:

Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. Ecclesiastes 5:12 (ESV)

One must note that Solomon is not describing abject poverty – the man does have labour and is not starving. Yet, he does put his finger on the important aspect: the little bit the labourer possesses has come with the blessing of God – and thus sleep.

Ecclesiastes 5:13-17 then sets out the fear which comes from possessing property:

13 There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. 15 As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 16 This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? 17 Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

Earlier in the letter, Solomon had raised the opposite circumstance: What if I keep my property and then leave it to a fool:

18 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. Ecclesiastes 2:18–21 (ESV)

This, of course, draws another direct line between Qoheleth and Solomon: Qoheleth fears his wealth will be left to a fool. Solomon did leave it to the fool, Rehoboam – you managed to loss 10 of the 12 tribes in a single afternoon.[3]

This is contrasted with the one who has received a blessing from God:

18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil-this is the gift of God.20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. Ecclesiastes 5:18-20.

Yet, even at this point, one might think that Solomon did not sour on wealth and privilege until the very end of his life.

The Blessing Solomon Lacked

However, Ecclesiastes 6 puts a dagger in that theory: Ecclesiastes 6:1-3 shows that the acquisition of tremendous property and extraordinary comforts provide not real comfort with the added blessing of God to transform the external into a true subjective blessing. However, it is best to read this as not just a speculation but an experience. To see the pain of Ecclesiastes 6:1-3, we must not abstract it from an actual life.

The relationship between Ecclesiastes 6:1-3 is not merely at a general leval. When look at the precise language used to describe Solomon’s wealth as recorded in 2 Chronicles 9:22-23 and compares it to the man recorded in Ecclesiastes 6:1-3, it seems that we may be looking at the same person:

22 Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. 23 And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.

2 Chronicles 9:22-23. Now consider the man of Ecclesiastes 6:1-3

1 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind2 a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

Consider this closely: First, both Solomon and the man described in 6:1-3 have received profound material “blessing” from God. God says to Solomon, “I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.” 2 Chronicles 1:12. The lists almost match. Moreover, as just noted, it also matches the list of 2 Chronicles 9:22-23.

Second, note that God did not promise Solomon that he would have enjoyment from all his property. In fact, God’s covenant with Solomon contains the express condition of obedience: 2 Samuel 7:14.[4] When God blesses Solomon with the promise of material good, he makes the quality of life a matter of obedience:

And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. 1 Kings 3:14 (ESV)

As in the NT, the matter of “eternal life” is not merely a matter of duration but of quality.[5]

How Then May We Receive That Blessing?

This of course begs for an answer to the question, How does one obtain the blessing of the Lord to enjoy the pleasant things of this life?

First, we must think rightly about wealth and its true benefit. For this we have help of Proverbs:

10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

11 A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination.

12 Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.

Proverbs 18:10-12. The middle proverb of the triplet notes that wealth is an imaginary protection. Reliance upon one’s wealth is pride, which will only result in destruction. However, the one who trust in the Lord will be safe.

Second, we must thus avoid the sin of seeking protection from money; rather, we must place our hope solely in the strength of God:

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Hebrews 13:5-6. It is interesting to note that here love of money is contrasted with trusting in God:

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:24–26 (ESV)

And lest we think such talk is a mere fairy tale, the Apostle Paul gives us a picture of such in action. To make the point more plainly, God graciously – for our sakes – has Paul write from prison:

10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

[2]William Varner in his excellent commentary James a New Perspective lays out the elements of a discourse peak on pages 20-28.

[3]Interestingly, the only wealth passage which does not seem to parallel Solomon is the man who has no other, the miserable, lonely miser (however, perhaps Solomon did at times feel himself to be lonely despite the ocean of human beings about him):

7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business. Ecclesiastes 4:7–8 (ESV)

“All” Solomon must do to secure these blessings is to follow David’s example of adherence to the Sinai covenant. If he keeps the “statutes and commands,” Solomon will honor his father and thereby have “a long life.” This reference to Exod 20:12 underscores the continuity of God’s covenant with Israel, with David, and with Solomon, the new generation. It also emphasizes the conditional nature of Solomon’s kingship, an idea that is repeated every time God addresses Solomon directly (cf. 6:11–13; 9:3–9; 11:11–13). Long notes that in these four addresses “the editor-author(s) forged a kind of unity of exhortation out of the material, which then can be turned on end to become a deadly serious, twice-repeated message of conditions violated, promise lost, glory tarnished (ch. 11).”11 God’s covenant with David is eternal, but Solomon can be replaced with another “son of David” if he disobeys the Lord.

[5]While the text does not explicitly entail happiness, yet it does seem that a “long” and bitter life would be no blessing. This is consonant with the understanding of Deuteronomy 5:16 which corresponds obedience to covenant with long life – and thus a quality of life.

16. Prefer the Lord and His kingdom before all things, for the Divine Love and Wisdom have shown the soul that these are the fountains of life, that thus states of blessedness may be acquired in heaven, and that the soul may be led into the state of order and happiness which is designed for it by the Divine Love and Wisdom.

A. Payne, A Study of the Internal or Spiritual Sense of the Fifth Book of Moses Called Deuteronomy (London: James Speirs, 1881), 47.

Calvin commenting on Ephesians 6:3, which quotes the OT commandment likewise long life to happiness and not solely duration:

The promise is a long life; from which we are led to understand that the present life is not to be overlooked among the gifts of God. On this and other kindred subjects I must refer my reader to the Institutes of the Christian Religion; 63 satisfying myself at present with saying, in a few words, that the reward promised to the obedience of children is highly appropriate. Those who shew kindness to their parents from whom they derived life, are assured by God, that in this life it will be well with them.

And that thou mayest live long on the earth. Moses expressly mentions the land of Canaan,

“that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” (Exodus 20:12.)

Beyond this the Jews could not conceive of any life more happy or desirable. But as the same divine blessing is extended to the whole world, Paul has properly left out the mention of a place, the peculiar distinction of which lasted only till the coming of Christ.

Waltke explains that wisdom literature provides a more precise analysis of general propositions of the law. Thus, wisdom literature can function as a commentary on the. Here is such an example on the matter of vows. First, the proposition as found in the law:

Deuteronomy 23:21-23:

21 “If you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.
22 But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin.
23 You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth.

Qoheleth develops this proposition with additional comment in Ecclesiastes 5:4-7:

4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.
5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.
6 Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?
7 For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear.

However, with the coming of Christ, the law receives additional development. Note that when Jesus raises the matter, he does not lessen the requirement, but actually makes a more profound dedication than required by the law:

33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’
34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Matthew 5:33-37. James, coming at the end of this development states the matter plainly:

But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

Good bit of advice given to me by a well-respected NT scholar: When working with a passage, begin by comparing multiple translations. The comparison will alter you to any questions with the underlying text & will give you the considered position of many men and women who have worked on the translation and on the approval committees:

‎ESV

‎NASB95

‎NIV84

‎NET

‎KJV 1900

‎HCSB

‎‎Ec 4:4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

‎‎Ec 4:4 I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind.

‎‎Ec 4:4 And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

‎‎Ec 4:4 Then I considered all the skillful work that is done: Surely it is nothing more than competition between one person and another. This also is profitless—like chasing the wind.

‎‎Ec 4:4 Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

‎‎Ec 4:4 I saw that all labor and all skillful work is due to a man’s jealousy of his friend. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

The difference comes from first the introductory waw (or vav depending upon pronunciation). The particle correlates clauses and sentences. However, the meaning of that correlating depends upon the context.

The question is thus what is the connection between v. 4 and the preceding discussion of oppression. Has Qoheleth changed topics or is he giving some insight into the nature of oppression? Is the observation on envy a parallel to oppression?

The second difference comes from the translation of the verb r‘h, which has a basic meaning of “to see”. However, like the English “to see” the verb can carry the connotation of intellectual engagement.

The third difference is the manner in which one translates the tense. Hebrew tenses simply do not work in the same manner as the English verbs. The form of the tense means generally a past event, but whether one translates it as “I saw” or “I have seen” cannot be directly determined by the Hebrew form alone.

I think it best to tie verse 4 to what follows than to what precedes it: First, the evil in verses 1-3 consists of evil of the powerful toward the weak. Envy in verse 4 works in the opposite direction. It is important to note that the Law forbade favoritism in either direction.

Without question the Law was pointed and constant in forbidding the powerful to oppress the weak. For example:

12 And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge. 13 You shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you. And it shall be righteousness for you before the LORD your God. 14 “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. 15 You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin. Deuteronomy 24:12–15 (ESV)

Indeed, this same command is repeated in the NT:

1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. James 5:1–6 (ESV)

But, envy or revenge against the rich was equally forbidden:

You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. Leviticus 19:15 (ESV)

The judge was beholden to God to give proper judgment. Indeed, Solomon made this plain:

5 He appointed judges in the land in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, 6 and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you judge not for man but for the LORD. He is with you in giving judgment. 7 Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes.” 2 Chronicles 19:5–7 (ESV)

Now, only the rich could offer a bribe; thus, favoritism toward those who could help the judge was forbidden.

Moreover, the matter of envy is most likely to consume the one who lacks property (which is often through laziness, which is immediately condemned in this passage). Therefore, verse 4 begins a new, though related thought concerning evil in human interaction:

This subsection discusses the theme of “toil.” It begins with an observation about motives for “toil” (verse 4). To this Qoheleth adds a quotation about laziness (verse 5), then summarizes his conclusions about this situation with a numerical “better” saying (verse 6). In a manner typical of Qoheleth, two seemingly opposing points of view are set alongside one another. In verse 5 he points out that a person shouldn’t be lazy, but he follows this in verse 6 with the observation that overworking is also undesirable.

As for the translation choice between “saw” and “considered” both work equally well, and both fail: Certainly the matter begins with an observation of human behavior. But it does entail more than just an observation, it also entails understanding of what takes place: the conclusion that “envy” drives behavior cannot be seen on the face of human behavior. Indeed, humans would most likely deny envy as their motivation. Thus, either verb may be used, but both should be understood.

1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.”

But behold, this also was vanity.

Genesis 4:2 (ESV)

2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.

Ecclesiastes 2:2 (ESV)

2 I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”

Ecclesiastes 2:3 (ESV)

3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

First wine: Genesis 9:21

Ecclesiastes 2:4 (ESV)

4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.

Genesis 2:8 (ESV)

8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

First “house”: in the ark: Gen. 6:14

First vineyard: Gen. 9:20

Ecclesiastes 2:5 (ESV)

5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.

Genesis 2:8 (ESV)

8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Genesis 2:9 (ESV)

9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Ecclesiastes 2:6 (ESV)

6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.

Genesis 2:10 (ESV)

10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.

Ecclesiastes 2:7 (ESV)

7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks [sheep], more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.

Genesis 2:18 (ESV)

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Genesis 4:2 (ESV)

2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep [flocks], and Cain a worker of the ground.

Ecclesiastes 2:8 (ESV)

8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure[1] of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women,

Genesis 2:11–12 (ESV)

11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.

and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.

Genesis 2:22 (ESV)

22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

Ecclesiastes 2:9 (ESV)

9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

Ecclesiastes 2:10 (ESV)

10 And whatever my eyes desired [they asked] I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward [portion/inheritance] for all my toil.

Genesis 3:6 (ESV)

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Ecclesiastes 2:11 (ESV)

11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving[2] after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Fredricks:

His ordered gardens may have been relaxing, but even then they were a visual metaphor in the ancient world for the control a king had over his entire kingdom. Furthermore, with terminology reminiscent of the Garden of Eden, Qoheleth describes his achievements as those of one who took seriously God’s primary commission of earth’s management (Gen. 1:26-28). As Verheij notes, common words to both the End account and Eccelsiastes 2:4-6 include ‘plant’, ‘garden’, ‘trees of all fruits’, ‘to water’, ‘to sprout’, ‘to make or do.’ Just as the Edenic passage is the first manifestation of human sovereignty over and earthly domain, Solomon’s activities are a description of an aggressive management of an economic and political enterprise. Another Solomonic tradition, 1 Kings 4:33 at those the Genesis account of humanity’s primary commission where, in addition to being extolled specifically for his botanical knowledge, it is said, “he spoke of trees, a cattle, a fowl, of creepers and fish”, all in Hebrew terminology that in Genesis 1:26, 29. Furthermore, id., as a garden, was not a place for idle pleasure; it was a place of work and responsibility, even before the Fall (Fredricks, Ecclesiastes, 93).

Solomon’s Temple also harkened back to Eden:

1 Kings 6:33–36 (ESV):

33 So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square, 34 and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35 On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. 36 He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.

Philip Ryken comments:

Can choose five you think of the place of lush vegetation that was guarded by angels?

The design of Solomon’s Temple referenced the Garden of Eden, which meant that it’s doors symbolized the very gates of paradise. The garden where our first parents lived contained “every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Genesis 2:9). So the trees incite Solomon’s Temple naturally remind us of our ancestral home, as every tree and flower should. But, in this case, there are also angels in the architecture, which establishes a stronger connection with the garden to be eaten. When God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden for their sin and eating the forbidden fruit, he placed cherubim East of Eden “to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24). Whereas formerly the Garden of Eden was a place to go in and meet with God, now Angels barred the way, preventing the man and the woman from reentering paradise.

So when people came to the door of Solomon’s Temple and saw the cherubim amidst the flowers and the trees, they were coming to the gates of paradise (Ryken, King Solomon, 99).

Archaeologists have found an ancient water reservoir in Jerusalem that may have been used by pilgrims coming to the Temple Mount, the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced.

The IAA said the cistern could have held 66,000 gallons (250 cubic meters) of water; it likely dates back to the era of the First Temple, which, according to the Hebrew Bible, was constructed by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. and then destroyed 400 years later.

Well, what can someone do who does come after the king?[1] We have read what Solomon has done: is there anything which one can do?

This is again one of the questions which Qoheleth asks but he does not immediately answer. Here is a typical sort of answer supplied by the commentators:

He then claims that his, the king’s efforts, cannot be superseded by anyone who follows him, the implication being that if he cannot find meaning or significance here, then no one can (Longman, 95-96).

Is that true? Consider the words carefully.

Did Solomon say that there was no meaning of significance? Did he provide any answers to his question?

Is that good or bad?

If he can’t find significance, does that mean that it does not exist?

[1] Verse 12b, however, is extraordinarily difficult. The NIV (“What more … been done?”) is quite paraphrastic and depends on emending the text.42 Its apparent meaning is that no subsequent king could possibly do more to investigate wisdom and folly than Solomon. This reading is more or less followed by most modern interpreters.43 This interpretation, however, is strangely out of place in this context and involves significant alterations or peculiar translations of the text.44

Fox emends to obtain a different interpretation: the “king” is concerned about whether his successor will be a fool who wastes all that was earned for him.45 In light of 2:18–19 this solution to the text is reasonable, but it does involve considerable emendation of the text.

Ancient interpreters, however, saw the text quite differently. The Septuagint takes “king” to refer to wise counsel,46 which no one adequately follows. The Vulgate understands the “king” to be God, while the Targum reads the verse to mean that no one need attempt to reverse a royal decree after it has been executed.47

If the Hebrew is to be interpreted as it stands, the line can be translated literally as, “What is the man who will come after the king whom they have already made?”48 This would seem to make no sense. One could take “made” to mean “crowned,” but this is not the idiom one would expect.49

The phrase, “What is the man?” however, is analogous to the familiar “What is man?” question in Pss 8:4; 144:3; Job 7:17. The word “man” (ʾādām), moreover, is a catchword in Ecclesiastes for the human as a child of Adam. It represents all the folly, mortality, futility, and evil that humanity has inherited. From this one may hypothesize that “the king” refers to none other than “Adam” of Gen 2–4. The term “king” may have been chosen because “What is the ʾādām who will come after ʾādām” was unsatisfactory. Also the ʾādām of Gen 2–3 is in reality the king of humanity.

The Hebrew phrase “whom they have already made” would then refer to the divine creation of Adam. The plural may seem troubling, but three interpretations are possible. The plural may be a corruption; a number of Hebrew manuscripts read a singular verb here. The general plural may represent a passive; the translations would then be, “Who has already been made.”50 More likely the plural is in direct imitation of the plural verb in Gen 1:26.51 The meaning of the line can be paraphrased, “Is a human likely to come along who will be better than the king—Adam—whom God made long ago?”

In context this line states that there is little chance that humans will behave with greater wisdom than their first ancestor, Adam, who came directly from the hand of God. The apple does not fall far from the tree. The Teacher cannot confine his investigation to wisdom; he must also understand folly, for that is the stuff of human nature.

The next time you hear a political advertisement, compare the promise with the words of Qoheleth:

11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man?
12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?